Rooted

Who is God?

Sunday February 13, 2022 - Pastor Wungreiso Valui

Isaiah 55:8-9

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. -Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

THE MESSAGE

God created you. He loves you, He delights over and desires a relationship with you.

A STORY OF GOD'S PLAN: THE CHURCH IN THE REIGN OF IDI AMIN

Pastor Peter Kasirivu from Gaba Community Church, Kampala, Uganda

Many people know of Uganda because of Idi Amin, a dictator who ruled the country from 1971 to 1979. Idi Amin killed more than 500,000 people. Pastor Peter Kasirivu Makerere, joined the Gospel Church of 50 congregation members at the time when the church went underground. By the time Idi Amin left and freedom was restored, they had 400 congregations. The church grew even under extreme oppression!

Two lessons Pastor Peter Kasirivu learned:

1. Hard times grow us, even life-threatening ones, and will transform us into the people God created us to be.
2. God sits on the throne and is sovereign. He reigns above all rulers of this earth. He is good, but He has not promised us only peace. He has promised to be with us in the times when even our lives are threatened.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. -Psalm 23:4-6 (NIV)

So, who is God?

DESIRED OUTCOME: Your Sermon Takeaways

1. Experience the truth that God loves you specifically and has a beautiful plan for your life.
2. Learn that God has gifted you perfectly for His purposes.
3. Learn how to pray and how to unleash the power of His Spirit.
4. Learn God's ability to destroy Satan's strongholds in your life.
5. Learn about Jesus' heart for serving the poor.
6. Learn how God wants you to steward the material resources He's given you.

1. THE MYSTERIOUS GOD

1. No matter who we are, or where we come from, we each have an idea about God.
2. Our limited minds and finite lives simply cannot fathom the depth and breadth of God.

   For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. -Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

3. What we know about God comes from His revelation about Himself. We only know Him as He discloses Himself to us.
4. We can know God and have confidence about what He is like, and at the same time, we will never be able to understand Him completely.

THE REVELATION OF GOD

1. Revelation comes to us through creation, through Jesus Christ, and through the Scriptures (General and Special Revelation, Natural and Supernatural Revelation).

   "He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe... The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ, and him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity." (C. H. Spurgeon, The Immutability of God)

SERMON RESPONSE

1. What thoughts do you have about God?
2. Pray to God asking Him to reveal Himself to you.

2. GOD IS ETERNAL

"In the beginning, God..." -Genesis 1:1

1. God is eternal and existed before His creation; He is the initiator of all that happens (Genesis 1:2-25).
2. God wants to live with you eternally.

"Before man existed, God acted. Before man stirs himself to seek God, God sought man. In the Bible, we do not see man groping after God; we see God reaching after man." (John Stott, Basic Christianity)

SERMON RESPONSE

1. What do you learn about God from the creation story?
2. Write a prayer expressing your thoughts on creation to God.

3. GOD IS A PERSON

1. God possesses human personality (Genesis 1:26-31). God definitely has an intellect (Psalm 139:17), emotions (Psalm 78:40-41), and will (1 Corinthians 1:1).
2. God desires for a relationship with us. God created human beings in His image, made for relationships with Himself and with others.
3. The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18).
4. He delights over us (Psalm 139:13-19) and desires a relationship with us.

SERMON RESPONSE

1. How do you see God's love and care for you?
2. How does it make you feel to know God has given us the job to care for the earth?
3. How do you respond to the idea that God wants a relationship with you?
4. How have you seen this played out?

4. GOD IS HOLY AND JUST

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. -Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)

1. Sin is a powerfully destructive force in the world. Our disobedience against God earns us the wages of sin: death and eternal separation from Him (Romans 6:23).
2. Genesis 2 ends with the man and woman in a garden, free to enjoy all of its delights, with only the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" off limits. They disobeyed.
3. The Bible records the rebellion that began to ripple outward throughout all creation (Genesis 3:1-19).
4. The harmony and intimacy that existed between the man and woman quickly turns to blame and shame-the man blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent.
5. After Genesis 3, humanity had to find more and more words to describe the evils that beset them. Corruption. War. Hate. Disease. Selfishness. Greed. Deceit. Rape. Murder. Theft. Fear. Guilt.
6. Even creation itself groans under the weight of human disobedience.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. -Romans 8:20-22 (NKJV)

SERMON RESPONSE

1. Where do you see the consequences of human rebellion in our world? In your own life?
2. What kind of death have you experienced because of your sin?

5. GOD IS THE REDEEMER

1. ...our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name, The Holy One of Israel. -Isaiah 47:4 (NKJV)
2. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. -Psalm 19:14 (ESV)

THE ONE MAN REVELATION

1. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. -Romans 5:15 (NKJV)
2. God begins in Genesis 12 by calling one man, Abraham, for His salvation plan.
3. God sent One Man, His Son, to save the world.
4. God is calling you to be a part of His salvation story.
5. At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. -Romans 5:6, 9-11(NIV)

How do you accept Jesus' sacrifice on your behalf? Just think of your ABC's.
A. Admit you're a sinner.
B. Believe in Jesus and what He has done.
C. Commit to follow Jesus.

SERMON RESPONSE

1. Have you accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord? If yes, how has that changed you? If you haven't, what is keeping you from doing it now?
2. If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Savior, write a prayer accepting His gift of forgiveness and asking Him to be the Lord of your life.
3. If you have already asked Jesus into your life, write a prayer of thanksgiving for the gift of grace and forgiveness in your life and what it has meant to you.